Review: From Dead to Worse

Reviewed by Jen

Sookie Stackhouse was hoping for a little peace and healing in the wake of the deadly vampire summit she barely survived. But when she’s not dealing with vampire drama, she’s getting pulled into problems of the were community.

As our book begins, Sookie hasn’t heard from her boyfriend Quinn in weeks. And she’s been avoiding Eric and the blood-bond that is now between them. With an unexpected call from Alcide, she finds out that were-women are being killed… his girlfriend, Maria-Star among them. He suspects the pack-master Patrick Furman and he asks Sookie for her help to get to the bottom of it. Of course, Sookie uses her gift and manages to figure out who is really behind the attacks, but not before she is targeted twice herself.

Shortly after this is put to bed, there is yet another upheaval in the vampire structure of Louisiana. We find out what happened to Quinn. And I have to say, of the all things Sookie has done and the decisions she has made over the course of the series, how she deals with Quinn in this book has to be the biggest WTF moment for me in the series. Her decision to break up with him was patently unfair. I mean, if she didn’t like him anymore or just flat-out didn’t want to be with him, that would be one thing. But to fault a man for caring for his family is just crap. And for her to say she needs to come first… As if any of her other suitors would put her first. Every one of them would worry about themselves, their pack, their Queen or their entourage before her. I’ve never understood this and found it abrupt and out of character. Obviously, Harris needed to clear the path for Sookie to be with Eric, but this just did not work for me.

We also had a few odds and ends here: big developments in the Jason and Crystal front; some movement on the Amelia/witch front; the emergence of new members in Sookie’s family; even a little lingering something on the Debbie Pelt storyline (that should have died with her a couple of books back.) And of course, it all ended with new leadership in both the were and vampire communities. I love Eric, but what happened with Quinn left a bad taste in my mouth even after the book was over. 4 stars.